The head monk had a pet cat that had a nasty habit of meowing and rubbing against the monks’ bodies at common prayer time. The head monk then decided that the cat should be tied when all the monks gathered for communal prayer.
Just a couple of years later, the head monk died of old age but the cat still lived. The monks continued to tie the cat during prayer time.
After a few more years, the cat died. The monks immediately bought another one to replace it, and they still tied it at prayer time.
Two hundred years later, a visitor came by the monastery and observed that the monks would chase a cat and tie it up right before prayer time. When he asked about this, the host monk began a short discourse on the righteous merits of tying a cat during prayer time.
Strange. But cute. Reminds me of the story about the mom teaching her daughter how to cook a roast. She taught her that the proper way was to always slice the ends off the roast before putting it in the pan. When the daughter asked why, the mom wasn’t sure. She asked her mother, who told her that her mother always did it that way. When they asked great-grandma why she did it, it was because her pan was too small to fit an entire roast. 🙂 Amazing how traditions that start for one reason somehow get imbued with other meaning.
Yes, that story has a similar point.